


Friendship Is for Fools

by TheMangosity



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Personal Crisis, friendly conversation, friendship is the answer, kaiba doesn't know what to do with himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 05:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2496245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMangosity/pseuds/TheMangosity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Losing gets to be too much for Kaiba, and he shuts down. Luckily he runs into the one person who has any hope of helping him. If he had known who it was going to be, he probably never would have left the house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hand of Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> _I originally posted this on FanFiction.net on 9-2-2014_
> 
> This was inspired by the last episode of Yugi and Kaiba's duel at Battle City. BigBangLuver, Dookaller and I were at the end of a crazy _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ marathon and thought Kaiba's line "Friendship is for fools!" was really funny (Seriously. His whole speech there is hilarious!). This story grew out of wanting to write something with that line for a title.

_Friendship is for fools!_

Sometimes, when he's left the curtains open and the moon's light is free to bleed across his back wall, those words will come back to haunt Kaiba. He'll be lying awake in his four-poster bed, his mind gone blank from the mundanity of life--go to work, duel, win, go to work, duel, win, go to work, duel, _lose--_ and the hardly thought-out, spur-of-the-moment rant he dealt after losing at Battle City will play through his mind like a nonstop megamix. He can see that day perfectly, every detail preserved in intricate detail by his masochistic mind: Yugi's friends standing around indignantly, the glowing remnants of the holographic crowd, which he had worked very hard to develop for the occasion, and the sympathetic look that just managed to leak through Yugi's stone-hard dueling face. It's all there. The only thing he has trouble remembering about that day is how he truly felt about what he said.

He's convinced himself over the months that he meant every word of what he spat into Yugi's face.

It's nights like these that make him wonder if that's really true, nights when the wind outside slides across his balcony at just the right angle to remind him of a Duel Monster being summoned, when the very house around him settles and creaks like someone slapping a card down onto a Duel Disk, when he caught too long a glimpse at the colorful photo perched on the shelf before shuffling off to bed.

Despite how much physical nausea it causes him every time he sees it, Kaiba has it situated so that it's the first thing he lays eyes on when he wakes up in the mornings. It's a photo of Yugi Moto the second time he won the regional championship, the time Kaiba thought for certain he had a surefire dethroning on his hands. At the time, he couldn't fathom how his opponent left the ring with a measly 300 Life Points while he himself had nearly 3000 on his final turn. Looking back at it now, it should have been obvious that it was a slim lead, considering who he was facing. He should have kept better track of Yugi's face down cards, known to be wary of what was surely a trap card. For some reason, though, the same reason none of his duels with Yugi ever go the way he plans, he overlooked a crucial detail and allowed Yugi to start a Chain that put their final match at Battle City to shame. Now Kaiba is stuck every morning facing a beaming Yugi, his dueling face long melted away to reveal his usual, abundantly happy self as he smiles to the roaring crowd.

Although he hates to admit it, these things keep him awake on a regular basis. This isn't the first time he's sat at the edge of his bed and simply stared, letting his life flash before him and wondering about his life ambitions. Arguably, he's the most respected man in all of Domino City. He gained a life that few would be able to claw their way to if they tried, and want is like an old friend he always hated who he calls up sometimes to flaunt his fabulous wealth.

Only that friend still has the prized possession they borrowed a long time ago, the final bridge Kaiba has yet to burn down between their valley of strife and anger, and refuses to give it back.

He doesn't see himself getting it back anytime soon.

With a sigh like someone who's about to go take the most disgusting medicine known to humanity, Kaiba pushes himself up from the bed and crosses the room without really thinking about what he's doing. If he did, he'd probably crawl back into bed and try to forget that he even thought about doing what he's about to do.

He walks right up to the shelf, ignoring the bile rising in his throat, and he stares at the photo of Yugi. He stares at the photo of Yugi winning. He stares at the photo of Yugi winning in which he can just make out the form of his younger brother running off to console him after he stormed off.

He's convinced himself over the months that he keeps it there to remind himself why he duels, to give him something to fight for and to fuel his passion in times such as this.

For some reason, unlike all the other times, looking at the photo has the opposite effect. He doesn't suddenly become inspired to forget sleep and run up to his office to start work on the schematics for the latest tournament designed to draw out Yugi and ensure that they'll face each other in the finals. Instead, his chest grows cold, and for the first time since he used his connections to get a physical copy of this photo from the _Duelist's Network_ blog, he thinks that there might have been another reason he wanted this photo so badly, a reason that had nothing to do with the small trophy clutched triumphantly in Yugi's fingers.

Yugi isn't the only one in the photo. To his left stands Téa, her face alight with joy and more than a little hint of cocky pride at Yugi's accomplishment. Just behind her is the other guy that's always following Yugi around, Travis or Dustan or something like that. Kaiba can never seem to bring himself to care enough to remember. Even Duke Devlin has taken time out of his busy schedule to be there, and Kaiba knows for a fact that that's saying something. Tying the whole image together like some sort of nimrod with a disregard for all common decency is Joey Wheeler. He stands there at Yugi's right-hand side, practically crushing the shorter duelist's face with his armpit as he pumps his fist into the air and contorts his face with the power of victory.

Some of the most important people in Yugi's life are in this photo, and many more were there that day in the crowd. It makes Kaiba's stomach churn to know how much they all mean to each other. He's heard the story of Joey and Tristan-- _that's_ what it was!--risking their lives and braving the burning, dilapidated warehouse to pull Yugi from the flames, has seen firsthand the way Yugi was willing to lay his own grave at the bottom of the sea if it meant Joey could come out all right in the end.

Kaiba doesn't know what that's like. He's never known what it feels like to know that someone else would give their lives for him unquestionably, without a thought. Mokuba would surely do so, but Kaiba doesn't count that, because Mokuba and sacrifice will never meet. He'd give his own life before ever letting Mokuba get into a situation where that was required of him.

In any case, there are certainly other reasons that Kaiba felt such a strong desire to hang on to this photo, but he won't let himself delve any further into his own psyche. Doing so would surely spell his ruin.

So instead of giving this photo any further thought, Kaiba hovers over to the window and stares over the grounds, _his_ grounds. The fountain in the center of the yard sits silently. The jasmine trees are in full bloom. He spies one of Roland's men making the hourly rounds. Everything he sees belongs to him.

The clock on his wall strikes three, and Kaiba drags himself back to bed.

Tomorrow he's scheduled to fly out to Dice Town to make an appearance at a Duel Monsters tech conference. Under his watchful eye, his people will give a presentation on the latest Duel Disk modification that he spent less than a month developing. In the afternoon he'll return to KaibaCorp headquarters to spend a few hours typing away at his computer. The next day the dueling circuit will be all abuzz about his latest contributions to the world of Duel Monsters, hailing him as a technological genius while he spends the day in his office trying to avoid eye contact with anyone who isn't Mokuba or maybe Roland. At some point he'll challenge Yugi to a duel. He'll probably lose, and afterwards Mokuba will treat him to a consolation dinner, though it hardly counts as "treating" if you aren't using your own money. The next day he'll lock himself in his office and go back to balancing the company's checkbook or negotiating deals with other companies. The day after that will be the same. The day after that probably will be, too.

He's convinced himself over a lifetime that this is what he wants.

But he has every waking moment to remind him that it's not.

* * *

Another person might walk into the living room to find their brother stretched out on the couch in an undershirt and jeans and see nothing out of the ordinary. Mokuba knows that this is nothing short of a personal crisis. One of his brother's legs dangles listlessly from the leather couch, and an arm sits tossed across his eyes in the most distraught way possible. It's theatrical to a fault and overly dramatic to a tee, and it's everything Mokuba would expect a personal crisis from Seto to be like. It screams of his brother.

It's still the most unsettling thing he's ever seen in his life. The sight is enough to keep him pinned in the doorway, unable to set even a single foot onto the now hallowed ground. However, it's exactly what his brother wants him to do. How could it not be? Of all the living rooms, Seto chose the one Mokuba comes through every morning on his way to get ready for school. He had to have known this. He knows everything.

With less than high hopes for the coming conversation, Mokuba pads silently across the room, but no amount of silence should be able to keep his presence from his older brother. It doesn't. He can tell that his brother is awake and knows he's in the room. His brother can tell that he can tell that he can tell, yet he doesn't make a move. This is worse than Mokuba thought.

"Uh…Seto," he says from a distance, "aren't you supposed to be in Dice Town today?"

"They don't actually need me to be there," comes his brother's simple response, and Mokuba frowns. The passion that usually fuels everything Seto says has completely melted away. There is no fire behind his voice. It's just him.

With a sigh, Mokuba throws himself into the wing-back beside the couch. "All right, Seto. What's wrong?" When his brother says nothing, he crosses his arms. "You know it'll give Roland a heart attack if he comes in here and sees you like this." The imminent and very real threat of one of Roland's mother-hen-type episodes works to at least get Seto to remove his arm from his face. His eyes, too, show no signs of the fire Mokuba has come to associate with his brother's dueling spirit. He looks empty. "Did something happen?"

"I dunno," Seto replies. He laces his fingers behind his head and draws in a long breath. "I couldn't get to sleep last night."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Everything." Mokuba doesn't ask him to say more. When Seto says "everything," he means it. "Same as usual. I don't know why last night was any different."

"Maybe you're getting sick," Mokuba says, and he places a gentle hand on his brother's forehead even though he wouldn't know a fever if he felt one. "You should take the day off if you're--" Then something occurs to him. "Hey, when's the last time you took a day off, Seto?" From his brother's silence, Mokuba assumes the answer is somewhere close to never. "That's what's wrong!"

Mokuba jumps up from his seat and yanks at his older brother's arm, much to his protest, until he's sitting up like a normal human being. He doesn't let the dull, half-lidded stare or the wild, messed-up hair get to him as he grips Seto by the arms and says, "You haven't taken a day off since you won the chess match against Gozaburo." His brother visibly flinches at the mentioning of their stepfather, but Mokuba continues. "Even you need a break. You're not a machine, Seto." Mokuba breaks out the wide, quivering eyes he saves for moments such as these. "At least take today off. For me?"

"Okay."

"Don't be stubborn, Seto. You--Wait, what?"

"I'll take the day off."

Mokuba stares at his brother for a moment without saying anything. "That's it? No"--He deepens his voice and wags his finger--"'I run this company and I say when I get to take a day off.'" Seto merely quirks his eyebrow at the pale imitation. "Wow. You really do need a vacation." He places a hand to his chin in thought. "Tell you what? I'll go tell Roland to get the car ready. You think about where you're going to go. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Come on, Seto. Pull yourself together. Today can be nice if you let it be." He pats Seto encouragingly on the shoulder and then he dashes to the doorway. "Is twenty minutes enough time for you to be ready?"

Seto sighs. Clearly Mokuba is determined to see this through. "Yeah."

"Great. I'll let him know." Mokuba makes to leave the room before turning back around and adding, "By the way, put some deodorant on."

Mokuba is gone before Kaiba can respond. For the first five of those twenty minutes, he stays there in the living room, staring at the spot on the floor where Mokuba once spilled some grape juice when he was a small child. It never did quite return to the lustrous green it used to be. He doesn't know why they never replaced the carpet.

" _Probably because it made Gozaburo so mad_ ," he thinks to himself. As he stands, various bones in his body crack hideously. Maybe he does need to get out of the house. He stretches his arms above his head and catches a whiff of one of his pits, and he wrinkles his nose.

"Point taken."

* * *

Roland does indeed seem ready to have a heart attack as he pulls around the bend and heads for the main road. As long as it doesn't cause them to have an accident, Kaiba won't let it bother him.

He does, however, feel very bothered about the fact that he decided not to change. Although he had the mind to slip on a shirt--some brand-name article of clothing that he doesn't remember buying--he decided not to bother with the jeans under the assumption that he wouldn't be getting out of the car. He now deeply regrets it. Scowling and crossing his arms in the back of his town car while he's donning his signature dueling garb is one thing, but at the moment he feels like a spoiled teenage popstar.

"Master Kaiba," Roland says, his voice betraying his unease, "where exactly were you planning on going?"

"Anywhere," Kaiba responds. "Just…drive around for a few hours."

Roland never has been one to argue with even his most ridiculous demands, and Kaiba is glad that he doesn't choose today to start. He shifts gears and merges onto Ace Avenue, and Kaiba lets his mind wander to where it usually goes when board meetings are dragging on for too long. Soon his thoughts are weaved together in an intricate pattern that any other person would go mad trying to discern, his cards flashing through his mind along with his rival's. He spies Kaiser Sea Horse and Pot of Greed, Beta the Magnet Warrior and Soul Release. The cards soar at each other in battle, ghostly hands setting traps and monsters, and it all happens in nary a few moments. Just when he thinks he's come up with his latest fool-proof strategy, when he thinks he'll be able to give himself the satisfaction of envisioning Yugi with his head held low in defeat, the entire scene gets shattered to bits by a smiling, laughing Yugi and the rest of those geeks.

Kaiba practically jumps up in his seat at their intrusion on his private thoughts. He probably would give some kind of physical indication of his surprise if he didn't think it would bring Roland to his wit's end, and cause them to go careening into oncoming traffic. Instead he grits his teeth, tightening his fingers around the expensive fabric of his shirt.

"Why them?"

If his mind were suddenly showing him images of those new board members he regrets putting into place, he would be able to handle it. If it were showing him images of his office and that conference he skipped today, that would be fine. Even Joey Wheeler with that smug look on his face would be preferable to all of them together at once. His thoughts suddenly kick into overdrive, showing him every moment he's ever felt like vomiting at the sight of Yugi and his friends.

_Friendship is for fools!_

Kaiba is no fool. He's always been one to know what he wants and to snuff out desire at the slightest hint of it.

He's also known that he's had a problem with denial for a while, but he's always been in so much denial that he never did anything about it. For reasons unknown to him, he finds the chains of denial suddenly slipping lose, and soon he's staring down a desire so powerful that he wonders how he ever hid it from himself at all.

_Friendship is for fools!_

"I'm not a fool."

"Did you say something, Master Kaiba?"

"No."

He can't get that photo out of his head. Yugi's happiness that day didn't stem from the fact that he had just won his millionth tournament in a row, or that he had absolutely crushed his opponent in a spectacular comeback that few would be capable of. Kaiba knows the way he knows his own deck that the only things Yugi needed to feel happy were the admiration of his friends and the knowledge that they wouldn't have thought any lesser of him if he had lost. That certainly wasn't and isn't the case for Kaiba. Would he even be as happy as he imagines he would be after finally defeating Yugi and reclaiming his spot as the number one duelist in the world?

Before he can fully explore that train of thought, the image of the beaming Yugi morphs into something that shocks even him. Before his mind's eye, Yugi's face contorts into utter despair, tears streaming down his face and curling under his chin the way they did all those months ago on the docks. Kaiba has no idea what prompted such a sudden change in his thoughts. His mind seems to be doing that a lot today. It's such a vivid image that he wonders if he's having another one of those dreams he tends to have while dueling.

Then Kaiba blinks and realizes that Yugi is right there outside his window. They've stopped at a red light right next to a crowded stretch of sidewalk, and Kaiba can easily spot Yugi as he walks along the outer edge of the throng of people, his face a mess of tears. He's so close to the car that Kaiba could touch him if there weren't glass between them.

Then Yugi actually does touch the glass, his fingers splayed across the tinted surface as he dips his head low and scrunches his eyes closed, his mouth open in a silent sob. Kaiba again finds himself resisting the urge to jump back because of Yugi, and simply gawks at the sudden display of emotion. He's seen Yugi cry on plenty of other occasions, but never with such intense hopelessness.

He also never felt sorry for him on any of those other occasions.

Once he realizes what he's done, Yugi quickly withdraws his hand from the glass and wipes at his eyes, and something stirs within Kaiba. Before he knows it, his hand has shot out to roll down the window, and Yugi's shoulders go rigid. He whips around with his hands held up as if he expects to face some furious entrepreneur, and when they lock eyes, Yugi's face drops. He doesn't think he's ever seen anyone more afraid to see him in his life, which is odd considering some of the board meetings he's been to.

"K-Kaiba?" he all but squeaks, looking every bit like a Kuriboh caught in the sights of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Under normal circumstances, this would certainly be the appropriate analogy on Kaiba's end. He doesn't know what's keeping that from being the case right now. It's probably the polo shirt. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't…I…I mean…I just…"

As Yugi continues to babble incoherently, Kaiba looks him over, notices the way his hoodie seems uneven at the neckline, the way his eyeliner is smudged at the corners. He's lost. They both are. At least for today, he and Yugi are exactly the same.

Kaiba says the first thing that comes to his mind:

"Need a ride?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of two parts, but you won't have to wait long for the continuation! It'll be up soon.


	2. A Friend in Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people have bigger problems than having a personal crisis. It never occurred to him that Yugi might be one of those people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I first published this chapter on FanFiction.net on 9-5-2014. It's fitting that I would repost it here on Kaiba's birthday!_

Kaiba scoots over to the other side of the car and watches Yugi hesitate with a foot on the patterned car mat. He eventually pulls himself the rest of the way in without a word. Yugi fumbles with the seatbelt, situating the strap so that it lies comfortably beneath his puzzle as he avoids making eye contact with Kaiba. He probably knows why he accepted Kaiba's invitation about as much as Kaiba knows why he offered it. If there's one thing Kaiba doesn't do, though, it's regret anything he does. He'll see this through to the end even if it means sitting through the most awkward car ride of his life. He has a feeling it will be just that.

"Master Kaiba," Roland says, his eyes trained on the road as the light turns green. "Are we still driving…around?"

Kaiba has to hand it to Roland. Surely the man knows enough about his rivalry with Yugi to be absolutely astounded by what just happened, but he doesn't let it show in the slightest. Kaiba will remember that later.

He looks at Yugi and asks, "Where were you going?"

"I…I don't know," Yugi says quietly. He looks smaller than usual. "I guess I was going home."

"Then that's where we're going. You know where the Kame Game Shop is, right, Roland?"

"Like the back of my hand," Roland says. Kaiba has no idea what he means by this, and Yugi seems to be in too much of a stupor to ask about it or even notice what he said.

As Roland makes to double back around, he flips the switch to roll up the screen between the driver and the passenger side of the car. It seems like an eternity before it clicks to a stop.

Yugi seems so far away that Kaiba almost feels like there's no one else in the car with him. Even once the focus comes back to his eyes, Yugi still says nothing, opting instead to stare out the window as the suburban scenery whips by. Kaiba can handle that. It's not like he called Yugi here in order to have a riveting conversation.

The three blocks' worth of saying absolutely nothing still surprises him.

Yugi is the first to break the silence. He straightens his back against the seat, his palms resting flat on his lap. "Kaiba, what am I doing here?"

Kaiba turns to Yugi with his most practiced neutral expression and says, "I saw you walking by. You looked sad."

The near pout that forms on Yugi's face would be comical for anyone else who weren't Kaiba. "Well, this is new. Since when have you actually…well…cared?"

Yugi seems to regret what he said the moment it flies from his mouth, but the words don't sting. Yugi has every right to ask this, and Kaiba has no idea what inspired the sudden decision to extend the hand of…whatever this is.

"Sorry," Yugi says. He holds Kaiba's gaze with eyes that look like they haven't closed for sleep in a while. "It's been a rough day."

" _More like a rough week_ ," Kaiba thinks, but he doesn't say it out loud.

"It's funny, actually." Yugi's voice quivers oddly in the end, and Kaiba hopes beyond all hope that he won't be stuck in the back of this car with a weepy Yugi. "I was just thinking about the last time we saw you, at the Duel Monsters Store."

"Is that why you were crying?"

Yugi snorts, and then he laughs, laughs like he really needed it. "Who says you don't have a sense of humor?"

"No one."

"I guess you're right." He leans his head back against the cool fabric of the chair and smirks. "Although I can think of a few people."

"Joey Wheeler doesn't count for anything."

"Woah. That's pretty harsh, even for you."

Kaiba doesn't say anything in response to Yugi's oddly mirthful grin.

"I honestly thought you two were going to get into a fistfight that day," Yugi says, and Kaiba lifts an eyebrow at him.

"What? When?"

"At the Duel Monsters Store." Yugi twists himself so that he's better facing Kaiba. "Maybe you didn't notice, but Joey probably would have punched you in the face if you hadn't left when you did."

"Oh, please," Kaiba says with a dip of his shoulders and a roll of his eyes. "Wheeler wouldn't hurt a fly."

"You really think that?"

"Of course. He talks a big game, but in the end he has no intentions of backing it up. You deal with those kinds of punks all the time in the business world."

"That would explain why you're not afraid of him."

Now it's Kaiba's turn to give a laugh, a sudden, abrasive noise that dies as soon as it hits the air. "I'm not afraid of anything, especially not that second-rate duelist."

"If you say so."

Without warning Yugi's eyes part with Kaiba's as he turns to look out the window, and Kaiba too turns to see where they are. They're nowhere near Yugi's house or the Kaiba estate for that matter. He and Roland were driving longer than he thought.

"Téa was actually on your side, if you'll believe it."

" _Great,"_ Kaiba thinks. Yugi is trying his best to hide it, but Kaiba can tell from the way the smaller duelist's voice rises in the end that the waterworks from before aren't too far off.

"We were only there that day because KaibaCards was having that event and--I'm sorry." Yugi's hand flies up to cover his mouth and he squeezes his eyes shut against the tears that Kaiba predicted, his breath hitching in time with his shaking shoulders.

It's a far cry from his dueling persona. Even Kaiba, who has faced him more times in the dueling ring than he can count, is having a hard time wrapping his brain around the fact that this sniveling boy is the same duelist who forces him to duel with every last ounce of his skills.

Although Kaiba wouldn't normally be so generous, he doubts that handing Yugi the handkerchief that he keeps in the glove compartment on principle will do any harm at this point, and so he does just that.

"Thank you," Yugi whispers, and as he wipes at his eyes, something changes. He pulls himself together and wipes away the rest of the tears, and when he looks up at Kaiba, there he is: the duelist. "My grandpa is in the hospital, Kaiba. I think he's going to die."

Despite how little Kaiba knows about the old man--not to mention the direct hand he had in putting him in the hospital all that time ago--something clenches in his stomach to hear this news. "Where are your friends?" he asks, and his voice isn't nearly as cold as it was a moment ago. It dawns on him that if someone had told him a week ago that today's events would lead to him sitting in the back of his town car, two seconds away from saying something to console a bleary-eyed Yugi, he would have immediately demanded that they go get a reality check.

Yugi pauses for a long moment as if weighing his words, and then he says, "I've tried to be strong for them. They don't know the whole truth." He wipes at his eyes one last time and then folds the handkerchief into a neat square. "But they suspect. I was going to tell them tonight."

Even his duelist fire burns just a little less brightly, and Kaiba finds that this disappoints him far more than it should. "What happened?" Again, he would not have believed a week ago that he would have any interest whatsoever in any sob story Yugi had to tell about his poor little old grandpa, but he does.

Yugi sighs and his eyes go dull. "It's a long story. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"That never stopped you before," Kaiba says, folding his arms across his chest, "and if you haven't noticed, we've got time."

The silence between them stretches so long that Kaiba wonders if Yugi will ever speak, but he doesn't look away. Even on the worst of days, he will never be the first to break eye contact with anyone, especially Yugi.

"I'm sure by now you've heard of Capsule Monsters," Yugi finally says, and Kaiba narrows his eyes.

"I knew about Capsule Monsters a year before it was formally announced. What about it?"

Unlike usual, Kaiba listens to Yugi's story about getting transported into a magical land in which Capsule Monsters were real without so much as a quip. Yugi noticeably gleans over a portion near the end about how they defeated a Five-Headed Dragon, but Kaiba couldn't care less. He doesn't believe any of it for an instant.

"Once we had all escaped, I thought everything would return to normal," Yugi says once he's made it to the end of his tale. "Everyone seemed fine, but…he wasn't." There's another long while of silence before Yugi speaks again. "We…I found him collapsed in his room three days ago. He's been in a coma ever since, and the doctors don't expect him to recover." His fist clenches on his lap. "And there's nothing I can do."

"It sounds like you were in some kind of virtual Capsule Monsters world, but I haven't heard news of anyone even testing something like that," Kaiba says, frowning. He'll have to get one of his people on that and possibly fire someone for not knowing about it in the first place.

Yugi doesn't argue the way he normally would, and simply nods his head in agreement. "That's very possible. Even we don't claim to know exactly where we were."

"If that's the case, your grandfather is probably suffering from VWS."

"VWS?" Yugi says again, his eyes lighting up with curiosity. "What's that?"

Yugi has been in and out of so many virtual worlds that Kaiba assumed he would know about it. "Virtual World Syndrome. You get it coming out of shoddy virtual world terminals."

"And you think my grandpa has it?"

Kaiba nods. "Seems pretty obvious to me."

"What makes you so sure of this?"

"We used to see it a lot in beta testers back when we first developed virtual world technology." Yugi stares at him oddly. "What? They're fine now. Besides, we fixed those glitches ages ago, but the Capsule Monsters simulator you visited probably wasn't as sophisticated as KaibaCorp's virtual world. It could still have those problems."

The familiar intensity that Kaiba recognizes so well lights in Yugi's eyes. "If what you're telling me is true, then I need to tell his doctors right away--"

"Don't bother. They won't believe you," Kaiba says, and Yugi shoots him a glance that's an instant away from furious. "Most medical establishments don't recognize it as a real condition."

"I have to try," Yugi insists. His hands are fists now. "Now that you've told me this, I can't sit around and do nothing."

Kaiba recognizes that intensity lit in Yugi's eyes. He'll stop at nothing to save his grandfather, the same way he would stop at nothing to save Mokuba if he were in the same position. Before he even realizes what he's doing, Kaiba reaches back into the glove compartment to grab the pad of paper he also keeps in there on principle. He scribbles something out while Yugi watches on like Kaiba has gone crazy, which he probably has.

Once he's satisfied, Kaiba tears the sheet off and holds it out to Yugi just as the car comes to a stop. They've arrived at Yugi's house. "This is Roland's personal phone number. If you call him later today, he can arrange for your grandfather to be transferred to the KaibaCare Medical Center. They'll be able to treat him if it's really VWS."

Yugi's mouth parts like he's going to say something, but then he doesn't. He reaches out to take the note with both hands. "Kaiba, do you really mean that?" Yugi asks, and something has changed yet again. The duelist is gone.

"Yes." Kaiba doesn't say anything more, doesn't trust himself to.

"I…I don't--"

Before Yugi can get out what he has to say, Roland opens his door, and he turns to look up at the man. "We're here, Master Moto."

"Oh. Um…thanks." He unbuckles his seatbelt and hesitates for a moment, staring at the note. Then he turns and smiles the largest smile he has in three days. "Thank you, Kaiba." He gets out before any normal person would respond, sparing Kaiba the need to do so.

Kaiba watches as Yugi takes the side entrance beside the one marked with a "closed" sign. The time it takes for Roland to get back in the car passes like a dream for Kaiba. Soon Roland starts up the engine and lowers the barrier between them.

"Where are we headed now, sir?" he asks, and Kaiba doesn't even have to think about it.

"Home, Roland," he says, and the word feels just a little less foreign on his lips. "This vacation is over."

hr

By the time Kaiba lies down for bed that night, he's absolutely mortified by his actions that day. Offering Yugi Moto a ride? Allowing his grandfather to get transferred to the KaibaCare Medical Center? Of course he won't go back on his word to get Yugi's grandfather the best treatment the world has to offer, but he can't imagine what possessed him to do any of the things he did today.

"What was I thinking?" he asks aloud. Whatever took hold of him this morning has long passed, and he decides that it would be best to move on and hope it doesn't happen again.

Mostly he doesn't want to think about the fact that he began to snap out of his funk the moment "the duelist" left, the moment Yugi smiled and thanked him with true appreciation in his eyes.

"Whatever." It just proves that, occasionally, Yugi has the ability to melt anyone's heart, even his. Now that it's over, he feels ready to take on the world. In fact, it seems like a fine night to start work on the schematics for the latest tournament designed to draw out Yugi and ensure that they'll face each other in the finals, but he won't. He has work tomorrow, and he'll be damned if he misses another day.

Without another thought, he reaches up to snap off the light and lays his head down, but his heart didn't quite thaw back to the way it used to be.

"I'm such a fool," he mutters to himself, and he falls into a restful sleep.

* * *

It turns out Yugi's grandpa had succumbed to the physical and mental stress that can sometimes incapacitate a person after they travel from one physical plane to another. In other words, he had VWS, and the KaibaCare Medical Center is very good at treating that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might write a sequel where Kaiba and Yugi actually become friends, but for now this is complete. I like to think of Kaiba as more than just that jerk who hates friendship, so it was fun to write him and Yugi having a real, semi-normal conversation. I hope you enjoyed all the Capsule Monsters goodness! Capsule Monsters=greatest, most hilarious season/spin-off ever. Ever. ...Anyway, thanks for reading all the way until the end! I really appreciate that. Until next time!


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